Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The US and Russia have already talked. There was a meeting between Secretary of State Kerry and Foreign Minister Mr. Sergey Lavrov just over a week ago.

My understanding is that it has been agreed that a conference will be convened within a number of weeks, which would build on the conference that took place in Geneva last June. The difficulty is that the international community wants a peaceful resolution of the situation in Syria but the slaughter is continuing within the country. The Assad regime is continuing its brutal attacks on its own people. There is a degree of frustration internationally that the conflict is not coming to an end and that the efforts of Dr. Brahimi have not yet resulted in a settlement. The Brahimi solution is the only one available and we support it through the European Union. We continue to do what we can to bring humanitarian aid to the unfortunate people who are suffering as a result of the conflict.

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